Parish Council News

Bigger Parish Council: Owing to the huge amount of work created by GLH and Jaguar Land Rover, the Parish Council has agreed to try and increase the number of councillors from 5 to 7. Although we are considered a small to medium parish, with approximately 350 residents, we are also responsible for the employees in this parish. Unfortunately, we do not receive any of the business rates paid to the County and District Councils to help us to manage the extra, substantial workload created by JLR. It will be up to the District Council to decide whether we are justified in our request. We have been told in the past, however, by County Cllr Chris Williams that the GLH masterplan is to create a town to include Lighthorne Heath, Lighthorne, Chesterton and Gaydon: if this is the case, we may be refused. The wording in the GLH draft Supplementary Planning Document, which has just gone to public consultation (page 99) gives the impression that this could be one of the District Council's aims. The consultation document can be viewed on the District Council's website www.stratford.gov.uk/glh-spdformal. It is also available to inspect at the District Council Offices - Elizabeth House, Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6HX and in Libraries at Harbury, Kineton, Southam and Wellesbourne. Closing date for responses is 26th February.

Mrs Annette Conway kindly represented the parish at the Examination in Public and we hope to have an update in March's magazine. Traffic is our number one concern and we know that Annette invited the inspector to visit Gaydon to see the situation for himself but we are unsure as to whether he did accept this offer since other groups were also inviting him.

Balfour Beatty have said that they will not be able to assist us with improvements to the Banbury Road lay-by nor by providing gates at the entrances to our village to define our village boundary and, hopefully, make drivers think and drive carefully. They have said that they will be assisting Bishop's Itchington Primary School. This is good news for that primary school but we have pointed out that we believe Gaydon residents will receive very little (if any) benefit from this. Instead, we have asked them to consider assisting with the repairs to our war memorial; or our benches and bus shelter seat; or the removal of the tree stump on the village green. We are still waiting for their response.

Church Clock: The second quote for the war memorial has just been received and it has been submitted with our grant application. We will hear at the end of April whether we have been successful.

Transparency Code: We have submitted a grant application for funds towards a website and computer to enable us to comply with the transparency code (displaying of many documents on a website).

This funding is only available for updating technology to cope with

this requirement.

Speedwatch: A meeting has taken place with residents to discuss community speedwatch and traffic calming measures. We hope to provide an update in March's magazine.

Field: Purchase of part of the Church Lane field for recreational purposes is progressing. We are hoping to sign the contract at either February or March's meeting. Residents will be consulted on whether a play area is situated here and what equipment will be installed etc.

Spitfire Properties (owner of the paddock next to the Gaydon Inn) are still in discussions with the County Council over the ownership issue of the Banbury Road ditch and we understand that this must be resolved before building works can take place on the field. We will update you.

Hamper: We would like to thank Ellis Machinery for the hamper which has been donated to Barnfield.

Pavement Parking: Could we please remind residents not to park cars or motorbikes on the footways; and request that your visitors do not do so either. In the last month we have received numerous complaints about this. Parking in the Banbury Road and Kineton Road helps to slow the traffic, so please park there and not on the footways. Help to keep our village a safe place to live in. The Police have agreed to keep an eye on this situation when travelling through Gaydon. Councillors will be placing notices on any vehicle seen on the footway and noting the registration number. Residents of Barnfield cannot get past if you park on the footway (pavement). Please think of others.

Buses: If you are experiencing problems with public buses or school buses please log your complaint on the County Council website. It is then recorded and you will get a response.

Finally, we would like to thank the editor and her team of voluntary helpers who produce and deliver this magazine every month. If you are able to help with the delivery, Julie would be happy to hear

from you.

Next Meeting: Our next Parish Council Meeting is on Tuesday,

2nd February, at 7.45pm.

Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 7.45pm in the Village Hall and residents are very welcome to attend.

HM The Queen's 90th Birthday Celebrations

The official date for celebrating the royal birthday is the weekend of the 11th and 12th of June 2016. Gaydon will be planning some sparkling events. Watch this space!

Clean for the Queen

'Keep Britain Tidy' are organising an event called Clean for the Queen on 4th - 6th March 2016 to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday. KBT are hoping for as many organisations as possible to join in this event, so please pass this information to any groups you may think would like to participate.

Gaydon Parish Council will be organising a Litter-Pick starting at the Village Hall on Saturday 5 March. Please keep your eyes open for notices and further information in next month's magazine.

Lent

The start of Lent is Ash Wednesday which falls on 10 February this year. There will be a service of Holy Communion at 7.30pm in the Parish Church of St Giles here in Gaydon.

For A Safer Home, Register Your Appliances Now

For a safer home, Warwickshire Trading Standards is urging consumers to register their fridges, washing machines and other white goods with the new domestic appliance registration scheme.

Domestic appliances have never been safer. However, as appliances become older, unforeseen faults can appear and these sometimes require the manufacturer to repair or recall the product. A new web portal now provides access to the registration pages of 47 leading brands of domestic appliances:

www.registermyappliance.org.uk

If, then, a manufacturer identifies a fault with a product which requires a repair or product recall, consumers can be quickly contacted. The information consumers provide will be used only to notify them of product recalls and safety notices: it cannot be shared or used for marketing purposes without their express consent. Supported by Government and RoSPA

Beekeeping 2016

Although the new year has only just started, plans for this year's beekeeping are well under way! At this time of year, as brood rearing is at its lowest, we treat the bees against varroa mites and heft the hives to gauge if they have enough supplies of food to last till spring. Numbers will build up rapidly, but often this results in swarming around May time. In the summer, the bees will store up a good supply of honey. This will enable us to take some for ourselves. In late summer we ensure that each colony has a good queen and enough food to see them through the winter again.

We have been keeping bees for five years now and are members of the Stratford and District Beekeepers Association which promotes the breeding of the native British black bee. This bee is bred to be gentle and productive.

The Association promotes the craft of beekeeping by education and through courses, speakers and 'hands-on' training in its own apiary.

A new beginners' course will start in February and anyone interested should contact Mike Osborne on 01789 731745 or visit the website on www.stratfordbeekeepers.org.uk Stuart and Petra Sellman

The Vicar's Letter

The Lion and the Lamb

I heard someone say the other day: Some people are lion-like. They are bold, steely and courageous. Others are like lambs. They are gentle, meek and submissive. Actually, I believe we are all supposed to be a godly mixture of both. But how can one person be both the Lion and the Lamb?

In C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the lion, Aslan, represents Jesus; and in the following passage we read how Aslan is slain:

'"Bind him, I say!" repeated the White Witch... "Let him first be shaved" ... the shorn face of Aslan looked... braver, and more beautiful, and more patient than ever. "Muzzle him!" said the Witch... the whole crowd of creatures kicking him, hitting him, spitting on him, jeering at him... They began to drag the bound and muzzled Lion to the Stone Table.'

Later: 'they heard from behind them a loud noise - a great cracking, deafening noise... The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end... There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane .... stood Aslan himself.'

Thus, in this amazing children's story, C.S. Lewis unpacks a truth from the book of Revelation (Chap 5, vs 5-9) where we see Jesus is standing at the centre of the throne of heaven as the Lion and the Lamb: the Lamb who was sacrificed in our place, so that our sins could be forgiven; and the triumphant Lion who rose again from the dead, bringing us - if we so choose - into a new relationship with God as our loving Father and the promise of eternal life.

As Christians, we are called to have "the attitude of Christ" (Phil 2: 5-11) which includes a willingness to forgive others as we are forgiven, to put into practice what we read in the Scriptures and to boldly proclaim the word of God ... knowing that true discipleship has a cost, but leads us also into life in all its fullness.

The Dassett Magna Fellowship Group is at present studying another of C.S. Lewis's widely-acclaimed books: Mere Christianity. You are all welcome to join us. Please see the Dassett Magna Pew Sheet for further details. Mike Cadwallader

Messy Church for Children

Sunday 7 February at 3.30pm at Temple Herdewyke Community Centre: Taste and See, Café and Messy Church.

Sunday 14 February at 3.30pm at Fenny Compton Village Hall: Messy Church with games, crafts, stories, songs and tea. 'Adam and Eve' theme. Phone Lesley on 771171 for more information.

Nature Notes

January

After a few freezing days, a return to balmy mild temperatures. A good sign to see groups of winter Midges "dancing" over the muddy puddles created by recent heavy rains. Rooks are beginning to gather around their old nesting sites repairing last years structures. They are one of the earliest birds to begin incubation. Close observation reveals their plumage to be an iridescent blue, not black.

Rookeries were thought to be good luck and were a source of young birds for the now seldom-seen Rook Pie. I remember eating this dish as a child: the young Rooks were rather unsportingly shot out of the nest before they could fly, then placed in a dish covered in boiled eggs and pastry! There were even special "Rook Guns" with very long barrels that fired a "dust shot"; the idea was not to damage the nest so that another clutch could be laid. There was a wide belief that it was bad luck to harm a rookery - advice obviously taken way back, as many sites are mentioned in the Doomsday book!

Other places to be preserved were "fairy Rings" of mushrooms, Ancient Oak Trees (Weatheroaks) and Holy wells, one of which still exists at Chadshunt.

The lack of harsh conditions has resulted in very few birds visiting our bird tables as there is an abundance of natural food as yet still available. You may even see early Hazel catkins and Blackthorn Blossom but it is too early for there to be any pollinators.

Woodpigeons are everywhere at present and they nest all year round but break off to gather in large flocks to feed on the open fields. Other birds that are high profile at present are Kestrels and Buzzards which frequent roadsides hoping for roadkill or disturbance on the roadside verges.

Quite a few pheasants have stayed in the village, avoiding being shot and as the season closes, a wise move indeed for them! The early Snowdrops will soon be out in Chadshunt churchyard and are establishing themselves around Gaydon Church, too.

Listen for the rippling songs of the large flock of Goldfinches which seems to have adopted the village; the "Yaffling" of Green woodpeckers; and - who would have thought it - even the harsh croaking of Rooks in the large Cedars by the Old House.

As the days grow longer, can Spring be far away? Bernard Price

Country Joke

Dick the shepherd sent his dog Shep into the field to count the sheep. When Shep returned Dick asked him, 'Well, how many were there?' 'Forty', replied Shep. 'That's funny,' said Dick, 'I only bought 38.' 'I rounded them up', said Shep.

YOUR SHOP IS IN DANGER OF CLOSURE

Don't forget to make use of your community shop because without your support as customers or volunteers it will close. You have been warned!

Mobile Library

The Library will visit Gaydon on Mondays 1st and 22nd February from 1.30pm-2pm at the Telephone Box.

Coffee Morning

Coffee mornings start again this month on Saturday 13th at 11am in the village hall. Bring and Buy, Raffle, Bookstall. Proceeds in aid of church funds - do come along!

Friendship Club

The first meeting of 2016 will be on Tuesday 23 February at 2.30pm at the home of Mrs Pauline Layton, Trevose, in

Kineton Road.

British Motor Museum

The British Motor Museum, formerly known as the Heritage Motor Centre, re-opens on Saturday 13 February after the Museum has undergone a major refurbishment in order to show off the world's largest collection of historic British cars to even better effect.

With elevated views, more stories, more cars to sit in and new hands-on activities, there is lots more to keep families entertained on a day out.

During every school holiday, themed activities add to the fun with crafts, trails, quizzes and interactive workshops. Also new for 2016 are family tours with one of our enthusiastic Museum Explainers who will help bring the cars to life; and the new Museum Collection Centre Building which allows public access for the first time to view 230 extra cars which make up the reserve collections of both the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and Jaguar Heritage Trust.

See website www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk for more information and 2016 prices. Don't forget, if you Gift Aid you can buy 1 day and get 12 months for free!

The British Motor Museum team look forward to welcoming you soon!

M40 J12 Improvements Scheme: Traffic Management Update

Works to be carried out by Balfour Beatty, on behalf of Highways England, at the M40 J12 scheme, for w/c 01 February 2016.

The majority of the works will be before 6am and after 9am (off peak).

Proposed dates and times could be subject to change and for the most up to date information, please visit the dedicated scheme website at www.highways.gov.uk/m40j12

1. Monday 01 February - Southbound on/off slip closure from 930am to
6pm and 2/3 way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge from 930am - 4pm
and then from 630pm until 6am on Tuesday 02 February 2016.
2. Tuesday 02 February - Northbound on/off slip closure from 0730am to
4pm and 2/3 way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge from 0930am - 4pm
and then from 630pm until 6am on Wednesday 03 February 2016.
3. Wednesday 03 February - Northbound on/off slip closure from 0730am
to 4pm and 2/3 way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge: 0930am - 4pm.
4. Thursday 04 February - Northbound on/off slip closure from 0730am to
4pm and 2/3 way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge: 0930am - 4pm.
5. Friday 05 February -
a. Southbound on/off slip closure from 930am to 6am Monday 08 Feb.
b. 2/3 way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge from 9.30am - 4pm and
then from 630pm until 6am Monday 08 February.
c. M40 Southbound Lane 1 Closed from 930am till 6am Monday 8 Feb.
Long Weekend Working
1. Saturday 06 February - Southbound on/off slip closed for 24 hours, 2/3
way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge for 24 hours and M40
Southbound Lane 1 Closed for 24 hours.
2. Sunday 07 February - Southbound on/off slip closed for 24 hours, 2/3 way
lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge for 24 hours and M40 Southbound
Lane 1Closed for 24 hours.
3. Monday 08 February -
a. Southbound on/off slip closure until 6am.
b. 2/3 way lights on the B4451/M40 over bridge until 6am.
c. M40 Southbound Lane 1 Closed until 6am.

All traffic management will be removed and the slip will be re-opened at 6am on Monday 8 February 2016.